RICHARD YOUNG, PUBLISHER AND CONTENT MANAGER
Richard Young is a retired high school History teacher who taught with the Thames Valley District School Board for 30 years.
He founded, published, and edited The Beat Magazine, an independent print arts magazine, from 2009 to 2013.
After the print magazine folded in the summer of 2013, he kept himself busy doing many things.
He wrote freelance for a variety of local print publications, including Lifestyle Magazine, Business London, London, Inc., Professionally Speaking (Ontario College of Teachers), Scene Magazine, and the Villager Group of community magazines.
Richard worked part-time/casually at a well-respected London Advertising & Marketing agency, writing copy about heavy industrial machinery. Talk about a learning curve! He thanks owners Robert Adeland and Mina Thaler for their patience in teaching him the ins and outs of large cranes, dump trucks, excavators, and the like.
From December 2022 until August 2025, Richard was the Publicity and Program Department Head for Silver Spotlight Theatre, London’s theatre company that gives those 55 and older a chance to sing, dance, and perform on stage or backstage.
Most recently, he has served on the London Public Library’s Historic Sites Committee, the body that erects plaques around the city commemorating people and places of local historical significance. One project Richard takes particular pride in is an Interpretive Sign Celebrating Wonderland Gardens’ Contribution to London’s Music History, which he prepared in collaboration with the City of London Culture Office. It will be officially unveiled in June 2026.
In August 2025, Richard reactivated the magazine as The Beat Magazine 2025 website.
“My reason for doing so is straightforward. My goal is to gather together in one place the local arts and culture news that the mainstream London media outlets no longer seem interested in covering, unless there are exorbitant advertising dollars involved,” says Richard.
If you have a story idea or would like to become a Volunteer Writer for The Beat Magazine 2025, you can reach Richard at richardyoung@thebeatmagazine2025.ca
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THEATER REVIEWER JO-ANNE BISHOP
Background and Experience in the Arts
My background in the Arts started with an early love for music and dance. I attended my first concert at 10 years old (Helix at the Sarnia Arena in 1983!) and began tap and modern jazz dance lessons around the same time. My love for live theatre was built through school trips to the Stratford Festival to see plays like Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice, and Macbeth, and a trip to Toronto for The Phantom of the Opera, which quickly became my all-time favourite.
I dreamed of performing for many years, but being too self-conscious to audition in high school, I sat on the sidelines and instead reviewed music and theatre for our school newspaper. In 2013, I finally pushed my fears aside and was cast in my first play, Laughter on the 23rd Floor, as Carol Wyman, the only female writer on the Max Prince show. I have since performed in productions of Birth (Jillian, 2016), Hamish (Annette, 2023) and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime (Mrs. Alexander, 2024).
Previous Reviewing Activities
SCITS, Sarnia, Ontario – High school newspaper reviewer for Music and the Arts
London Fringe Festival, London, Ontario, 2012-2015
Independent Reviewer and Blogger (Theatre in London and The Pollyanna Papers), 2015-2016?
Why am I jumping back into the fray now?
After performing for a few years, I’ve decided to take a break from the grind of auditioning, rehearsing and performing. While I love it immensely, it’s a lot of work. Performing has given me a whole new perspective and appreciation of what goes into a production and the ability to look at reviewing with a fresh set of eyes.
Thoughts about the London arts and culture scene, especially local theatre
Hoo wee! London has such a wealth of talent, from youth to adults. Every time I see a play, I am amazed at how talented our actors, directors, producers, set/prop/costume/light/sound designers are. I don’t think causal observers realize just how much goes into making a production from the audition to the curtain call. It is a huge undertaking, and to think our theatres produce such world-class productions on some very tight budgets is astounding, especially at the community theatre level, where volunteers do everything.
Sadly, since COVID, I have witnessed a huge decline in attendance at performances, and it breaks my heart. I have also noticed a sad lack of reviews lately, which I find are necessary to give people an idea of what to expect and a reason to go to the theatre.
So, before I can put my feet on the stage again, I want to help put bodies in the seats. We need to reignite a love for theatre and the arts in this city.
FINE ARTS WRITER BETH STEWART
Beth Stewart is a writer, educator, and visual artist. She has a B.A. and a B.Ed. from the University of Windsor and a Diploma in Art Therapy from Western University. Beth has worked as an Art Therapist with Canadian war veterans and as a Secondary School Teacher of art and English for the TVDSB. She retired in 2024.
Beth was the arts editor at Scene Magazine from 2004 to 2006. She founded Artscape Magazine in 2006 and served as its editor until 2008. In addition, Beth wrote on the arts for Lifestyle Magazine from 2006 to 2017 and served as the copy editor for The Beat (in print) from 2009 to 2013.
As a visual artist, Beth works mainly in dry media and favours coloured pencil. Over the past decade, Beth’s focus has been on wild and domestic birds. Beth is a member of the Coloured Pencil Society of America, the Gallery Painting Group, the Eclectic Collage Collective, the Lambeth Art Association, and a founding member of the Coloured Pencil Artists of Canada group.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009620916363
WRITER J BRUCE PARKER
J Bruce Parker is a retired oncology nurse. As an avid cyclist, he crossed the country by bicycle in 1991 and still explores Ontario’s north via canoe trips. He has published a short story based on his camping experiences.
For over 20 years, as a citizen scientist, he was involved with Monarch Watch, an organization that monitors the annual migration of the Monarch butterfly. He has written about this species and other articles on nature for The Cardinal, Nature London’s quarterly magazine.
For more information about Nature London and The Cardinal, visit https://www.naturelondon.com/the-cardinal/
He is documenting his ongoing friendship with Canadian poet bill bissett, which he hopes to eventually publish.
Bruce has been writing articles for Villager Publications since 2022. To read samples of Bruce’s writing, visit https://www.villagerpublications.com/
MUSIC WRITER BOB KLANAC
Bob Klanac is a London-based music journalist who has penned hundreds of reviews and interviews. He was a juror for the Polaris Music Prize, a member of the Slaight Family Polaris Heritage Prize Jury and a Juno Awards juror. Bob has also penned two books, Promo Man about London’s late music legend Nick Panaseiko and Shooting Stars, Telling Tales, about photographer to the stars photo-journalist John Rowlands.
(Photo Credit: Paul Lambert.)
CLASSICAL MUSIC WRITER DAINA JANITIS
Why I should NOT be writing about Classical Music for The Beat:
Well, judge for yourself from the photo. I’m 80. I took Latin in high school instead of keyboarding. I am not a performer or a specialist in classical music (a few curling RCM diplomas for Grade 8 and 9 Piano notwithstanding). I played Highwaymen CDs for my kids when they were in the bathtub, and I love Linda Ronstadt songs. I asked for a ticket to the Elvis Presley concert in Maple Leaf Gardens for my 12th birthday, and attended in my choir accompanist uniform, clutching my leather satchel of sheet music. A nerd.
Why I want to Write for The Beat Magazine 2025:
I miss it since the print version retired. I admire its hard-working, eclectic editor, Rick Young, and its many volunteer writers for the kind, informative, and enthusiastic pieces they wrote about our London arts scene.
What I Think I Could Bring:
I taught high school English for thirty-three years- and have been retired for over twenty. Because I was grateful for the people who provided my children experiences and adventures in school music- and in the London Youth Symphony and Amabile – I started volunteering for these heroic people with talents I couldn’t match. I’m on the board for LYS and Magisterra Soloists, I was on the AHMAA board for saving the Aeolian Hall, I assemble newsletters for my union and for the classical music events in London, and I attend every concert I can manage.
But to my mental peril, I have been caught up in the political turmoil of our time. In just the last few months, I’ve read in horror about the denigration of DEI, the turning of the Kennedy Center into a “massage music” emporium, the selling off of public education and public journalism, the incitement of hatred for immigrants, and the finest relief for this anger I feel is in classical music.
What is the source of that solace? It’s a living genius in the musicians who play classical music for us in London, Ontario. Attending a pop music concert is certainly enjoyable, but attending a classical concert is intellectually stimulating and emotionally immersive. It requires sustained focus, careful listening for structure and nuance, and an openness to delayed gratification and complexity. Your emotional responses can be profound and spiritual. The concert offers a contemplative experience, with less overt physical movement and a stronger emphasis on collective listening and silent appreciation. Thank you, London musicians, for the courage you put into your work.
THEATRE REVIEWER BRIAN SPEAGLE
Brian Speagle is the artistic director of Scooter Productions, founded in 2016. He recently co-directed a successful production of John Murrell’s ‘Memoir’ at Manor Park Memorial Hall.
THEATRE REVIEWER CHARLOTTE MACDONALD
Charlotte MacDonald is a Creative Writing and History student at Western University. She currently writes about theatre, pop culture, and campus life for The Western Gazette, works as a Digital Intern at The Walrus, and hosts a radio show at Radio Western. Growing up in Toronto, theatre has always been a staple part of Charlotte’s life, and she has come to greatly enjoy engaging and contributing to the theatre community through her writing.
MUSIC REVIEWER IAN GIFFORD
Ian Gifford, formerly of Sarnia, Ontario, has been a Londoner for thirty-three years now. In that time, he has been a sound guy for many venues around town, spent ten years in radio for CHRW, has been involved with theatre and festivals, and has written music reviews for various magazines and blogs. On the other side of the coin, Ian is a multi-instrumentalist and producer who has worked with many London bands over the years, most notably his own railway-focused genre-bending group Engine 86. Ian’s writing comes from a place of experience and passion for all music and for the local music community.
The Beat Magazine 2025 